


Not Your Scene

by Measured_Words



Category: Adventure World (game)
Genre: Awkwardness, Books Are a Girl's Best Friend, F/M, Friendship, Party, Pining, Pre-Canon, Teenagers, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-23
Updated: 2014-05-23
Packaged: 2018-01-26 05:18:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1676153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Measured_Words/pseuds/Measured_Words
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a party in the middle of the social season, and maybe, just maybe Agy has a shot with the guy she's been pining over.  Or maybe not.</p>
<hr/><p>
  <i>It was the Season, and it was a party, and she was feeling bold.  Maybe it was that she'd actually managed to snag Vedran for a dance earlier, and it had given her some hope.  He'd teased her a little about her uniform, but they'd managed somehow not to get sidetracked by a conversation about their differing values, and that had been even more encouraging.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Your Scene

It was the Season, and it was a party. After a while, they started to blend together – this was hosted by Rem Machel and her husband Jonah, and it had something to do with their son Alem's birthday, or maybe it was his dragonmark party – the details had gotten a little confused. Agyness had congratulated him when she'd seen him, but he'd been whisked away by someone else for another drink he clearly didn't need. Now it was about that time of night when people were about to spin off to less formal gatherings to have fun on more comfortable terms.

Often Agy would take these departures as a sign that it was time for her to spin off herself – usually home. She wasn't the socialite a lot of her friends were, and she didn't always have the energy to push herself just for the pleasure of their company. Tonight, however, she was feeling a little bolder. Maybe it was because Brenn had insisted on everyone taking shots from whatever exotic liquor he'd brought in his flask that night. Maybe it was that she'd actually managed to snag Vedran for a dance earlier, and it had given her some hope. He'd teased her a little about her uniform, but they'd managed somehow not to get sidetracked by a conversation about their differing values, and that had been even more encouraging.

Agy spotted Vedran over talking to Thruik and Brenn – Thru, being one of the very few orcs at the party, stood out well enough in the crowd that he made a great point of contact – and made her way over towards them. Was she being too direct? Too desperate? She wasn't always sure, in these kinds of social situations, how it was best to behave. But Vedran happened to glance her way and smiled, giving a friendly wave as she continued towards the gathered group.

"Hey," she said. She'd meant to follow that up with some kind of leading question, asking where they were heading off to next, if it was about that time of night – something. But she couldn't think of anything particularly clever, and just smiled as the group expanded to include her. She stood between Brenn and Thru, acutely aware of how much she was overthinking the situation.

"Ismene is having an afterparty," Brenn continued, continuing a list of potential destinations he'd been enumerating, "and I've heard of a club over in Blackpool that might be worth checking out."

"What kind of club?" Agy hoped that it was as innocent a question as it sounded, but sometimes the things that her friends were into strayed well beyond her own interests. In this case, Brenn grinned and draped an arm around her shoulder.

"Just your type, actually – the type with good brandy, cigars, and the kind of card games that us uphill types find extra exciting because they're usually played by soldiers."

She'd been slightly worried for a moment, but now she grinned in return, feeling emboldened. "That does sound pretty good to me – who's in?"

Vedran started to open his mouth, but that's when Alia strolled up behind him and slapped him on the ass.

"Hey, hot stuff, you ready to go?"

He was apologetic, if unembarrassed. "Sorry, Agyness. I told Alia we'd hit up the Undertow clubs once it was late enough for them to be any fun..."

The Undertow clubs meant the goblinoid bars, meant the places where you could find casual same-sex hookups. As much as she wished she didn't, Agy knew that Vedran and Alia had some kind of arrangement where they would go together and each try and find a new partner – and if they weren't both successful, they could just go home together instead, or sometimes with an add on. "Oh," she said, "right." As if she should have known, and as if her hopes for the evening hadn't just been crushed. It was stupid, she reminded herself. The things they both believed in and wanted out of life were too different: even if he was interested in her, it wouldn’t matter, and it would never work out.

Alia draped herself over him, smiling saucily at Agy. "Why – you wanna join us?"

Agy shook her head. Alia didn't mean to be cruel. She was probably being sincere, even, in her own way. 

"Come on then, Ved. I got us a ride down the hill, but they're not gonna wait all night."

He grinned at Alia with a look of pure impish lechery, then gave a quick apologetic smile to Agy and the rest of the group. "Next time," he promised, letting himself get dragged away. At least he waited until he'd turned around and they were headed out to drape an arm around her in return, leaning his head close to her... Agy tried not to think about what he might be saying, or what they might be planning.

"Well," Brenn said, squeezing her shoulder and producing his flask. "Gambling, smoking, drinking: who's in?"

"Thanks," she said, pushing away the offered flask and slipping free. Brenn meant well, but she suddenly wasn't feeling up to company and didn't think that alcohol was could do much to improve her mood. "You know, I think I might just go home and read. You two have fun." She gave each of the guys a quick hug before heading off on her own. There was a new Adventurer's Guild novel waiting for her, and she thought it might be nice to slip into that world for a little while and pretend that every problem could be solved with a fight, and that the heroine could get the man she wanted – even just for a little while.


End file.
